Xeon Platinum 8256 vs Gold 5120
Aggregate performance score
Xeon Gold 5120 outperforms Xeon Platinum 8256 by a small 8% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 683 | 732 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 5.03 | 1.71 |
| Market segment | Server | Server |
| Series | Intel Xeon Gold | Intel Xeon Platinum |
| Power efficiency | 10.27 | 9.53 |
| Architecture codename | Skylake (server) (2017−2018) | Cascade Lake-SP (2018) |
| Release date | 11 July 2017 (7 years ago) | 11 December 2018 (5 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1,555 | $7,007 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Xeon Gold 5120 has 194% better value for money than Xeon Platinum 8256.
Detailed specifications
Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 14 (Tetradeca-Core) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 28 | 8 |
| Base clock speed | 2.2 GHz | 3.8 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.2 GHz | 3.9 GHz |
| Multiplier | 22 | 38 |
| L1 cache | 896 KB | 64 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 14 MB | 1 MB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 19.25 MB | 16.5 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 14 nm |
| Maximum core temperature | 81 °C | 72 °C |
| Number of transistors | no data | 8,000 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | + | + |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.
| Number of CPUs in a configuration | 4 (Multiprocessor) | 8 (Multiprocessor) |
| Socket | FCLGA3647 | FCLGA3647 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 105 Watt | 105 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 | Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| vPro | + | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | + | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | + |
| TSX | + | + |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | - | - |
| Deep Learning Boost | - | + |
Security technologies
Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | + | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4-2400 | DDR4-2933 |
| Maximum memory size | 768 GB | 1 TB |
| Max memory channels | 6 | 6 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 115.212 GB/s | 140.8 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | + | + |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | N/A |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 48 | 48 |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
Passmark
Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 11.40 | 10.57 |
| Recency | 11 July 2017 | 11 December 2018 |
| Physical cores | 14 | 4 |
| Threads | 28 | 8 |
Xeon Gold 5120 has a 7.9% higher aggregate performance score, and 250% more physical cores and 250% more threads.
Xeon Platinum 8256, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 year.
Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256.
Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon Gold 5120 and Xeon Platinum 8256, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Similar processor comparisons
We picked several similar comparisons of processors in the same market segment and performance relatively close to those reviewed on this page.
